2018 Subaru Crosstrek with 20k miles.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek with 20k miles.
My experience with miatas are they are much too loud to be enjoyable as highway cruisers even with a hardtop (I have only owned NA and NBs)
In reply to NOHOME :
As a Miata owner (albeit a non-stock Miata) I would say that 35-40 miles on the interstate at 60 mph ain't really its design brief.
I would look for something midsize, sleeperish but with a bit of oomph. On the interstate, comfort > sportiness, but that doesn't mean you need to drive your sofa to work. From personal experience I would look for the nicest / newest Acura TL / TSX or Volvo S60 / S40 in your price range. A Chevy Malibu / Buick equivalent / Ford Fusion would do as well, and you can probably get a nicer / newer one for the same money as the imports.
[edit] I also think the V6 Mustang idea above is a great one.
SVreX said:Is 35 miles now considered a long commute?
Ive been commuting 300 miles each way for the past year.
300?! Hows that going? 35 each way is medium-ish. Per statistics its well above average. The VW TSI stuff does really good hwy mpg, and easy to find in a manual. Not a necessity to go TDI to have an efficient VW.
I find my Fiesta SE comfortable on long trips.
Once did a 425 mile trip, 60 mph avg. 40 mpg.
mazdeuce - Seth said:How about a Suzuki Samurai? It will theoretically keep up with traffic on a good day and is constantly one quick maneuver from sliding on it's roof.
I've done this, but the traffic around here moves at very Samurai-friendly speeds (which helps keep me from getting angry at how slow everyone drives), and the roads are awful so the Samurai does well here, if it had AC it would be the perfect vehicle for my commute. Also they're not easy to get on their roofs, getting one on its side on the other hand is quite easy - corner hard enough and it will suddenly lift up on two wheels, fail to countersteer quickly and over you go!
8valve said:SVreX said:Is 35 miles now considered a long commute?
Ive been commuting 300 miles each way for the past year.
300?! Hows that going? 35 each way is medium-ish. Per statistics its well above average. The VW TSI stuff does really good hwy mpg, and easy to find in a manual. Not a necessity to go TDI to have an efficient VW.
Thankfully over. My house closed today.
*insert pretty much any Infiniti made between 2002 and 2012 here*
Surprised nobody has said C5 yet. It's a nice place to be, fun to drive, reliable and great on gas.
Im doing basically the same trip right now. I bought a zx2. It gets 33mpg always, 35 most the time and 40mpg rarely, has a decent stereo, is fast enough to be fun, handles nice and is overall a very fun commuter car.
You can also buy about 3 great condition ones for what you have for a price range
Suprf1y said:Surprised nobody has said C5 yet. It's a nice place to be, fun to drive, reliable and great on gas.
I'm finding C5's hard to find at $10k. I looked hard and couldn't find one that was clean, in my area at least.
60mph seems to be the 14 Koup's sweet spot for economy/sound/noics/ride. It is averaging about 36-37mpg at that speed. Comfy, handles great for a stock car on little 16's and great stereo/controls/AC.
That's similar to my commute and picked up a 128i a couple of months ago and couldn't be happier with it as a daily. MPG isn't great at 23, but everything else is a joy. Fantastic driver, nice seats, not too big, not too small, decently quick with good torque.
I’m doing a similar commute in an Avalanche....
no one suggested honda fit?
X2 for the Samurai. I did that for several years, lifted with Super Swampers to boot.
Surprised no one's mentioned the Mazda 3 yet. I looked at a new one the other day and it was comfortable, fun to drive, and they're rated pretty decently for fuel economy. With a minor bit of haggling a new one can be had for about 17k- and I know I've seen used ones with the Skyactive in the 7-10k range.
No way would I want a convertible for interstate commuting.
I have almost the same commute- about 85 miles round trip. Currently doing it in a '91 Volvo 240 wagon with an automatic, averaging 24 or so MPG. It's not a bad place to spend time, though the wagon has taller gears (3.73 IIRC) so even with the OD automatic its a little buzzy at speed. But, it has A/C and a radio and 4 good tires, so that's the main stuff. It does have over 200k and hasn't been 100% reliable lately, which is why I'm looking at replacements.
This one seems very cheap, though salvage title.
Did that commute for quite a while. Also did the 300 miler for a while. Ranged from blizzards and -30f in the winter to 100F+ in the summer.
All weather ability,, good mileage, comfy, quiet, good radio. Fun cars are out of their element if you’re at a constant speed on a flat road. But it can be done. Though to be honest I did find my crosstrek at the time to be a good match. My MR2 was pure joy when it was good weather for me to use it.
volvoclearinghouse said:No way would I want a convertible for interstate commuting.
I did the same distance commute, but with a 70mph limit (meaning 75 most of the time) for 16 years in a Miata. It's not that bad. I would imagine a 60 limit would make it far nicer. And there's no requirement that you have to take the top down- heck on days like today here in SE MI, I'd probably keep the top up and turn on the A/C.
But to be able to drive home with the wind in your hair is pretty nice- kind of a way to unwind. The only reason I stopped was that the car was getting really tired, and I didn't want to totally destroy it.
Then again, I've also done 10 hour drives in the car going on vacation. Not all with the top down, but I got used to long drives in that tiny car.
I would have no qualms with commuting in a convertible on the interstate after having owned a '95 Mustang GT conv. for a few years.
A 2011+ Mustang V6 conv. would be very interesting for this kind of thing. One of the few domestic V6en that I like the sound of, especially with an exhaust, and they definitely make plenty of power for the mpg's. It seems like $8k gets really nice examples of these. I don't know how great the seats are and I always thought they had a weird stance. Wheel and tire package is somehow off as well. Could see myself considering one of these as a replacement for my Suzuki in a few years when the Suzuki is read for restoration or replacement.
I hate to ask, but with that much driving, are you able to right the mileage off on your taxes? If so. I'll go with a Camry Hybrid or Prius.
I’m still confused.
80 miles per day is about 20,000 miles per year. The national average is 15,000. Doesn’t seem like that long a commute to me.
Do some of you guys live in the backyard of your office?
You shouldn't be. Nobody said it was a long commute, just a commute. Which it clearly is.
There's also a big difference between average miles driven and miles driven only to work.
In reply to SVreX :
I drive about 22,000 miles for work. Then another 8-10j for personal use. So yeah the commute isn't much more than the average but that doesn't get me groceries and trips to harbor freight.
Slippery said:2018 Subaru Crosstrek with 20k miles.
I see what you did
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